


Get To Know You

by Paruu



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, linked universe (fandom)
Genre: Artist Appreciation Project!!, Bonding, Fluff, Gen, I love you Dream!!, based on an art piece, because i can't write anything else, tiny bit of hurt with a lot of comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:35:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27212050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paruu/pseuds/Paruu
Summary: Hyrule guessed they must have had been around two weeks in this adventure, give or take a few days. Two weeks of traversing different versions of the same world, two weeks of fighting monsters he’s never seen before, two weeks of trying to finally memorise all the nicknames they had given each other to avoid staring blankly at a person before addressing them again.Two weeks of Legend trying to escape from them.
Relationships: Hyrule & Legend (Linked Universe)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 74





	Get To Know You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DreamoftheWild](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamoftheWild/gifts).



> This is a part of the Artist Appreciation Project on the LU discord server created by Seeking7!! Go give her some love, she deserves it!
> 
> But do you know who else deserves Love? Dream!! The beautiful, lovely person whose art was an inspiration for this fic! Go read his stuff, you won't regret it!!
> 
> https://www.instagram.com/p/CEzjNCxp-Zt/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link Here is the piece that started it all!
> 
> I love you Dream, I know I've told you this countless times already but it will never be enough.
> 
> I hope you have a wonderful day and enjoy this little story!

They haven’t known each other for long. It was hard to keep track of passing days at times, most of them went by the same after all and only the occasional battles served as impromptu checkpoints. Most of the heroes, though, seemed to be paying more mind to how effectively they tackled their new quest, rather than how long it took them. 

Hyrule guessed they must have had been around two weeks in this adventure, give or take a few days. Two weeks of traversing different versions of the same world, two weeks of fighting monsters he’s never seen before, two weeks of trying to finally memorise all the nicknames they had given each other to avoid staring blankly at a person before addressing them again.

Two weeks of Legend trying to escape from them.

Of course, by no means was the escape literal. Legend never tried to sneak out of camp when no one was looking or ‘accidentally’ lost the group during larger battles, no. But the way he was looking at them, or rather  _ avoiding _ doing so, how quiet he was all the time, the only instances he  _ did _ speak happening when he was being addressed directly, the fact that each and every word that left his mouth was either unnecessarily irreverent, dripping with anger or simply mean, and how he always kept his distance from everyone made Hyrule feel like he was running away. 

Hyrule knew a thing or two about that, spending most of his life on the move with special inclusion of the last six years, so Legend’s behaviour was not foreign to him, quite the opposite. He was sure he’d come to understand the other’s reasoning soon enough and be able to help him through it.

But after all this time, he still hasn’t.

It was strange, actually. Now, with all those people traveling by his side, all those  _ strangers _ whose presence became so familiar so quickly, for the first time in his life, Hyrule felt safer than in any enclosed cave he had ever claimed for the night.

So he decided to find out why this wasn’t the case with Legend.

“He’s just a bully, leave him be.” Warriors had said once, “He’ll get bored of it eventually if we continue to ignore him.”

“Some people become like that due to their experiences.” Time had informed him, “You don’t know what he’s been through, you shouldn’t dig too much into what he’s clearly not comfortable with.”

“He’s just weird. Don’t mind him I guess.” Was all Wind had to say.

But Hyrule didn’t believe what they were saying was true. He couldn’t explain well the feeling that was stinging him from the inside of his chest and carving in his throat the words that said Legend was a good person. A person worth being with.

And he swore to himself to prove it.

He just didn’t know how yet.

***

  
  
  


Interaction is a tricky art to master. To think that something so natural, a basic human need as some call it would require so much prior mental preparation. 

In his mind, Hyrule came up to Legend after dinner and said hi, Legend then answered him, thus beginning the conversation that went so smoothly the pink-haired hero wanted to become better friends with the traveler.

But of course, that happened only in his head. It always did.

He wasn’t actually all that bad at talking to others, leaning a little more to the receiving side but not an absolute social disaster. He was getting progressively better since the meeting with the Links, too!  _ If _ someone else initiates the conversation that is.

Hyrule never really just… starts talking to people. He’s got nothing to say after all, not that anyone would like to listen to at least. The others usually ask him stuff and he follows, only when he’s sure it’s safe to talk

This was completely new territory, an unknown ground he had to step cautiously on because it could collapse at any second under his feet.

The plan was simple: approach Legend, offer to help him with his task, and start small talk from there. He could do this, it was like following a straight path with a map.

That might be explaining a lot.

"Hey, Legend." Hyrule came up to the small river near their camp where Legend was currently washing dishes. Phase one completed, now onto phase two! "I don't have anything to do right now so I was wondering, do you maybe need some help with the dishes?" 

It went better than he had anticipated. If he didn’t slip on the first step the rest of the journey is going to be an easy walk on even ground, certainly.

“No.” He should really stop using travel analogies, they take him nowhere.

“Oh. Right, of course you don’t.” This took Hyrule by surprise. He bit his lower lip and let his eyes wander, everything to not face the reason why his heart suddenly desired to get out of his chest and started demanding it to be open. 

Why did he even think he would make it? Strategising was Warriors’ talent, not his. He wasn’t good at putting stuff together in advance, never made a plan for anything so why was he so convinced that, the one and only time he actually did try and put in some effort, it would turn out perfectly fine? What a naive fool he was, to even consider he could be as good as others only because they supposedly share a spirit.

He shouldn’t have tried in the first place. He wasn’t acting like himself and it just earned him more embarrassment. He should’ve stuck to his plain old self and kept his mouth shut because now Legend thinks he’s annoying and maybe even that he considers him incapable of doing the most basic chores!

His palms were sweating, it was as if he had dipped them in the river and just taken them out. The trees were staring at him, their leaves laughing at how pathetic he looked, standing in silence where he was clearly unwanted. 

They were whistling at him now, pushing him back to camp, telling him to go and not humiliate himself further. He almost wanted to obey.

But he couldn’t. He couldn’t leave Legend like that he just knew it. If he wasn’t the one to finally break him out of his shell then no one else would. The others had helped him through his initial struggles, it was his turn now. But what can he do when all his confidence just crumbled? 

He always just… winged it, to be honest. Never prepared in advance because he lived in a world where he constantly had to be ready for the worst. 

The forest fell silent as he realised where he made a mistake.

“Well, of course you don’t need help,” he started quietly, thankful that the leaves let him speak, “but do you want it?”

The rhythmic movement of Legend’s hand in a bowl stopped unexpectedly as rays of sunshine came through the branches to land on the water surface. Hyrule couldn’t see the twitch of his fingers that hid in the blinding light.

“I don’t.” It was cold and sharp, just as one would expect but not exactly the kind Hyrule was used to.

“Are you sure though?” The Traveler’s voice gained more power. He used it to take a step forward. “I can see there’s quite a lot. Wild had burnt that pot, too. It’ll take you a while to wash it all on your own.

“So I’ll just stay here longer.” Legend put the bowl to the side and took another one. The abused pot seemed to look at him longingly. The feeling wasn’t mutual. “Now go and get lost somewhere, I don’t know, do whatever you want and just leave me alone already.”

For the short distance between the two of them, Hyrule walked with newfound confidence. When all that was left was only a couple more steps, he sat down by the river and grabbed the pot. His eyes, however, were focused on the certain streak of bright pink hair.

“Right now, the only thing I want to do is help you.”

The reaction wasn’t immediate but Hyrule let Legend hold it however long he needed to. The older hero’s features remained still while the air around him changed. If it was icy and uninviting before, now it practically screamed to stay back, go away and forget he ever existed. It was in need of warmth.

“Why are you like this?” Legend asked, not sparing a glance on the other. His voice was evenly measured, loud enough for Hyrule to hear him, but also of a perfect scale of silence that would make it possible for him to convince himself it was only the wind teasing his ears if he decided he wanted to forget these words. 

“Like what?” Hyrule frowned. Legend’s eyelid twitched.

“Why are you acting like we’re friends all of a sudden?” He turned his head slightly to the younger’s side. The control he had over the volume of his voice must have been unstable because the birdsong that accompanied them before now turned into frantic flapping of tiny wings among tree branches.

“Don’t you want to be friends?” He asked as if there was no more obvious thing in the world. The eyes that looked in his were so clear, pure, so innocent, and greener than the forest surrounding them it made Legend feel sick.

“Oh, I see. So it’s like that.” He huffed. “You think you’re  _ so  _ sincere and  _ so _ thoughtful, trying to ‘help’ a lonely outsider, huh? You probably think that I’m actually all sweet and soft inside and just hiding it or some other bullshit you all believe in. Well then I’ll let you know, I am  _ not _ a nice person. Never were, never will be so go the fuck away from me already and stop pretending that everything’s gonna be alright!” The dish he had been washing might have broken for all he cared. He just tossed it behind and if there was a crack, it went by completely ignored. 

“I don’t mind.” 

“What?” He blinked. That was unexpected.

“I don’t mind.” Hyrule repeated. The tone of his voice was calm, unfazed by Legend’s outburst. He just smiled instead, this big, bright smile that made icebergs melt and ice monsters dissolve and Legend’s heart crack. “I still want to be your friend. I think we might get along.”

“You do realise it’s not that simple, right?” He said after a small pause. His hands began to shake slightly and he worried his bottom lip. “It’s never going to last, no matter how much fun we have together, how close we get, it’s all going to end! A-and you will be  _ gone _ and you will leave as if nothing happened and I don’t want to go through this shithole again—”

He was interrupted by something touching his arm, hand, he gathered. It was grounding and reassuring, and only a tad bit shaky. Soon, another one joined it on his other arm, grabbing tightly and making him look at what was attached to them at their ends. 

He didn’t want to, all he could imagine himself doing was push Hyrule away and then scream out his frustration. So why didn’t he do it? Why was he as still as if a ReDead had paralysed him? Except what he was seeing wasn’t a blood-thirsty monster but a kind, warm person who was giving others life instead of taking it from them.

And he was smiling, looking at Legend with pity—  _ No, _ with  _ care.  _ Before he knew it he was captured in an embrace, a delicate one he could easily get out of at any moment but chose not to. He let Hyrule stay like that and comfort him. When was the last time someone hugged him this way? He never let Ravio do it so was it with his Uncle? He has already forgotten how it felt like.

“We don’t have to become best friends overnight, obviously,” Hyrule whispered softly to his ear. “and I will accept you no matter what kind of person you are. Just give it a chance, okay? Let’s take it slowly.”

And the only thing he could do was nod.

Later that day, the two of them finished washing the dishes together in silence. The next day they walked next to each other in the morning, the day after that backed each other in battle.

It was going to take time, both of them knew it but that didn’t matter. They were making progress step by step, little by little, and when the time of parting would inevitably come it wouldn’t be sad or bitter or painful. It would leave both of them with no regrets and countless good memories that would last until the day they meet again.


End file.
